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Gourde, Lightning jump to big lead in 4-2 win over Canucks

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Yanni Gourde scored late in the second period to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a three-goal lead, and they went on to beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 for their fifth win in six games. Chris Kunitz, Victor Hedman and Cory Conacher also scored for Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Yanni Gourde scored late in the second period to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a three-goal lead, and they went on to beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 Saturday night for their fifth win in six games.

Chris Kunitz, Victor Hedman and Cory Conacher also scored for Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots. Nikita Kucherov had two assists.

Thomas Vanek and Brock Boeser scored for the Canucks, who were vying to win their third straight at home for the first time this season. Jacob Markstrom finished with 24 saves.

Tampa Bay went ahead 1:26 into the game as defenseman Anton Stralman wristed a shot from the blue line that Kunitz deftly tipped in on the Lightning's first shot on goal.

Tampa Bay doubled its lead at 5:52 after a turnover by Sven Baertschi along the boards in the Canucks' zone led to Steven Stamkos finding Hedman, who fired it through Markstrom's legs.

The Canucks pressed in the second with several quality chances on Vasilevskiy. Baertschi, standing in front of the goalie, took a whack at a rebound and Loui Eriksson had a golden chance at the side of the net, only to have his stick impeded by Hedman.

However, Tampa made it 3-0 with 4:13 left in the middle period when Gourde one-timed a cross-ice pass from Mikhail Sergachev that went top-shelf on Markstrom.

Vasilevskiy made several quality saves, including two on Boeser, to open the third with the Canucks on a two-man advantage for 1:50. He also shut the door on Troy Stecher and Henrik Sedin, who both took dangerous-looking shots from inside the slot.

The Canucks finally got to Vasilevskiy exactly midway through the third with Vanek putting in a wraparound off a pass from Stecher.

Vancouver pulled within one with 5 1/2 minutes left as Brandon Sutter passed the puck to Boeser, who skated over the blue line and ripped a shot through Vasilevskiy's legs as the crowd erupted.

The cheers didn't last long. Conacher took a high stick to the face from Chris Tanev while on a breakaway and converted his resulting penalty shot with 3:24 left. Tampa went on a power play and controlled play for the remainder of the game.

NOTES: The Canucks were without C Sam Gagner (upper body) after he suffered an injury in Vancouver's previous game. ... Lightning D Dan Girardi (lower body) missed his second straight game. ... Vancouver's Henrik Sedin played in his 1,300th NHL game.

UP NEXT:

Lightning: At Edmonton on Monday night to close an eight-game trip.

Canucks: At Fliorida on Tuesday night to open a four-game trip.